


Unravel

by anemic_cinema



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, Comfort, M/M, Survival, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 14:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anemic_cinema/pseuds/anemic_cinema
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glenn helps Daryl deal with trauma. Sequel/companion to "Unfold"</p>
<p>Content Warning: child abuse</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unravel

Sometimes it happened like this. With Glenn and Daryl sitting up after the others had gone to bed, and Daryl falling quiet and his eyes looking past everything. With Daryl picking at his fingernails over and over, trying to focus on something other than the memories. Not just of destruction and walkers, but of things that had happened way before then. Things that he could never forget because they'd been carved on his body.

Daryl sometimes felt ashamed that he just couldn't get past it, get over it, forget about it. It's not like it mattered now, now that his father was long dead, and Merle was gone. But he just couldn't. Daryl couldn't forget being slammed against a wall so hard he'd gotten a concussion when he was only 9 years old. He couldn't forget the stink of cheap liquor on his father's breath as he screamed hateful things at him and rained down blows on his then-tiny frame. The hurt that came whenever Merle yelled at him to man up, or not to cry, even when Daryl was in so much pain he wanted to die. How bad things would get when Merle would get locked up, and he'd be left alone with their father. How terrifying the snap of a leather belt was. The memories were tight around his mind like a ball of twine, and sometimes they tightened so much it felt there wasn't room for anything else.

When that happened, Glenn would place his hand over Daryl's and hold onto him, his thumb tracing patterns on the older man's skin. The touching helped Daryl feel less numb, and helped him come back to the now, which had Glenn in it, who loved him, who would never hurt him, who was gentle with him even when their appetites were not so gentle. 

They would go to bed then. Glenn would hold Daryl close under their sleeping bag, the older man's head resting on his chest. He would focus on Glenn's heartbeat, the sound of his breathing, even the gurgling of his stomach. And then Glenn would kiss his forehead and tell him things that sounded like they were dipped in honey.

“I love you, beautiful.” Daryl wasn't sure why Glenn called him beautiful, but it felt good when he did. 

“You're the best thing to ever happen to me.” That would make the older man's throat tighten. So he would just hold onto Glenn a little tighter, and try to believe the words he was speaking.

“When you wake up I'll be here.”

Daryl would fall asleep to the sounds of Glenn's body, wrapped up in his warmth. And the next morning, every time, Glenn was there. Waiting for him, sometimes kissing him awake because he was too impatient. Those mornings were the best. That's when the memories would unravel around Daryl's mind, at least for a little bit, and they would make new ones that were full of love instead of fear.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at a short format fic, and also my first attempt at writing something that deals explicitly with coping with trauma/surviving abuse.


End file.
